Mizoram urged to probe blast

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Hailakandi, April 30: Hailakandi district police have written to their counterparts in Kolasib district of neighbouring Mizoram seeking a high-level inquiry to identify those involved in yesterday’s explosion at a primary school along the inter-state boundary.

Sources said superintendent of police, Hailakandi, Brojenjit Singha, sought the inquiry as residents of the area suspect the involvement of goons from Mizoram in the blast that damaged a major portion of the school.

Hailakandi district shares 80km border with Mizoram.

The school, Kachurthal Lower Primary School, constructed under the Axom Sarba Siksha Abhiyan, is about 90km from Hailakandi town.

The deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of Hailakandi district in Assam and Kolasib district of Mizoram have agreed to intensify vigil along the border to prevent escalation of tension on the inter-state border.

The Assam-Mizoram border dispute started in 2004 in Hailakandi when two reconstructed thatched houses were demolished by criminals. Damage to crops, irrigation pipes and theft of domestic animals and vegetables from Assam’s land are common along the border. .

The block elementary education officer of Katlicherra education block of Hailakandi district, Sailesh Chandra Roy, extra-assistant commissioner James Aind, circle inspector of Hailakandi police Amitabha Bhattacharjee and officer-in-charge of Ramnathpur police station, Mukut Hazarika, along with the forest officials rushed to the spot at Kachurthal and took the stock of the situation.

Bhattacharjee, who is supervising border vigil after the blast, told The Telegraph that the situation is normal along the border and no tension prevailed after the blast in the school.

The Hailakandi district committee of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) condemned the blast in the school. The president of the committee, Jahir Uddin, smelled a conspiracy. A resident of Kachurthal said destruction of the building would affect classes.

IED found: An IED along with 35 gelatin sticks and 20 detonators were recovered today from a passenger bus that was going to Harinagar, 55km from Silchar. Police arrested a couple, Thwena Kuki, 40 and Mary, 35 who were allegedly carrying the box containing the explosives.